Those of us who supported President Trump in last year’s election because he promised a less interventionist foreign policy need to be aware of a rising danger.Neo-con influence in the Trump administration seems to be on the increase.Rumored high-level personnel changes could put neo-cons into key foreign policy positions.Just as their neo-con predecessors led President George W. Bush into the disastrous Iraq war, a gift that keeps on giving, so today’s neo-cons want a war with Iran.

The obvious question is, how could anyone be so stupid?War with Iran is a lose-lose proposition.If the Iranians defeat us, we lose.If we defeat them, we also lose because there is a high probability the Iranian state would disintegrate and Iran would become another stateless region.That would be a huge victory for our real enemies, Islamic non-state entities such as Al Qaeda and ISIS that wage Fourth Generation war.

The neo-cons refuse to see this because they are playing another game, a game driven by the misconceived interests of a foreign power.To put it bluntly, many influential neo-cons are part and parcel of Israel’s Likud party.Years ago, around the beginning of the George W. Bush administration, they helped Likud devise a strategy for Israel.That strategy called for the United States to destroy every Middle Eastern state that could be a threat to Israel.That was why the neo-cons pushed the Bush administration into war with Iraq.